There was no shortage of surprises at the 2015 NBA Draft and while the New York Knicks and Miami Heat came away looking like winners, there were at least a handful of teams that appeared to fall short of expectations. Here is a look at the four biggest losers from the 2015 NBA Draft.
Philadelphia 76ers
The 76ers landed one of the biggest talents in the NBA Draft and yet they still earned the loser label after spending a whole year tanking just to take a player that plays a position where they already have two first round picks. Nerlens Noel looked like the real deal last season while Joel Embiid sat out the entire year to recover from a major injury. Yes, Embiid has some injury concerns but he’s supposed to be back at some point this season. Do you really need to spend three top 10 picks in your front court while so many other positions require assistance? Embiid didn’t seem too pleased when he found out.
OK……….. Lol
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 25, 2015
All reports indicated they had targeted either Karl-Anthony Towns or D’Angelo Russell heading in to the draft but Towns and Russell went 1-2 and that left Philadelphia to take Okafor – even though they could have drafted a guard as their biggest positional need or trade down in an effort to add more assets. Now the 76ers have three first round picks at the center position in a league that appears to be trending the other way in favor of smaller rosters.
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Detroit Pistons
Pat Riley and the Miami Heat are being lauded after landing Justise Winslow with the 10th overall pick but in order for that to have happened, there had to have been mistakes made along the way. The Pistons needed a wing badly but they passed on Winslow at No. 8 overall in favor of Stanley Johnson and the consensus is that was a huge mistake. Johnson is a quality young player but Winslow is considered a better player at both ends of the floor and that makes Detroit one of the losers from this year’s NBA Draft.
Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets were another team that passed at Winslow in favor of a player that was ranked lower on the majority of draft boards when they took Frank Kaminsky at No. 9 overall. The reasoning behind that decision helped them earn the label of being losers at this year’s NBA Draft. Michael Jordan supposedly fell in love with Kaminsky and pushed management to take him the same way he did with Kwame Brown, Adam Morrison, D.J. Augusin, Cody Zeller and Noah Vonleh.
None of those previous picks panned out for Charlotte and it wouldn’t shock anybody if Kaminsky was the latest on that long list of NBA Draft misses. He’s the typical four-year starter with a low ceiling that Jordan loves but this also smells like it’ll turn out like the aforementioned selections. It’s worth noting that the Boston Celtics offered the Hornets up to four first-round picks to move up to No. 9 but Charlotte rejected the offer as they were dead-set on Frank the Tank.
Sacramento Kings
The persistent rumors about DeMarcus Cousins being moved continued throughout draft day and they seemed that much more legitimate when the Kings selected his potential long-term replacement in Willie Cauley-Stein. It isn’t that Cauley-Stein isn’t a top talent but for a Sacramento team that has been so bad for so long, the fact that they have put themselves in this position should be a major concern.
The Kings hired a coach that their franchise player wants nothing to do with and instead of picking a guard that could help round out the roster and move them closer to being a contender, they ended up using the sixth pick in the draft on a player that will always be stuck behind their superstar. The duplication here is ridiculous – especially for a team that had so many other areas of need. Taking a point guard like Emmanuel Mudiay would have made much more sense.
